RURAL ROUTES/Margot Ford McMillen

Time for Common Sense (if not Insight)

Back in high school, we learned there were formulas for just about
everything. A couple of them stuck: how to figure the circumference
of a circle (Circumference = pi times radius squared) and how to
figure the temperature from the number of cricket chirps per minute
(Temperature = chirps in 15 seconds plus 40).

We didn't go to the same high school as the current
administration. They learned, among other things, how to manipulate
the price of gas to create approval before elections. Check it out.
The highest price, according to Gas Buddy, occurred Aug. 1. Bush's
rating was in the low 30s. Then gas prices started creeping down and
Bush's rating started creeping up. Now it's in the 40s.

Whether or not that will result in more votes in November is yet
to be seen. And probably figured by a formula so arcane we'll never
figure it out. Like the logarithms it takes to figure the dew
point.

And, while the reflective voters buy gas at the same pumps as the
stupid, we can learn not to burn. I just got back from my annual
drive to northern Illinois -- about 870 miles round-trip -- and I
used about 15 gallons of gas. That's because I was driving my Honda
Insight, a 3-cylinder hybrid car I bought in April 2001. It's the
most practical commercially produced car available. Thrifty, speedy
and about to be phased out due to lack of sales.

The Insight broke ground with new technology such as an engine
that shuts off when the driver comes to a complete stop and puts the
transmission in neutral -- at a stoplight, mailbox, traffic jam or
cattle gate. And when my car is coasting or stopping, the computers
direct its extra energy to the batteries to recharge them, so it
never needs to be plugged in. It's a very smart car; its computers
are constantly working to decide whether to travel on the batteries
or gas engine.

So this column is an elegy to a good idea whose time seemed to
come but has quickly gone. The Insight's sales were eclipsed by the
Toyota Prius, another hybrid, and the Honda Civic hybrid. Don't
expect to get 59 mpg with them, though. The owners I know are happy
to get in the high 40s.

While the Prius and the Civic seat four or five, the Insight is
(must I say "was"?) a two-seater, which is (was?) supposed to be its
fatal flaw. Even though everyone usually drives alone, it's somehow
less embarrassing to drive with three empty seats than with one.

Not that people aren't buying two-seaters. The Corvette is having
a comeback, that macho little sports car, with its image of speed and
attitude. It comes equipped especially with the fantasy that the
buyer and a cool date will vroom off to a remote, romantic
somewhere-special. A practical two-seater like the Insight -- well,
that's a problem. No fantasy.

And then there's the stuff factor, like where do you put it? I can
easily carry my briefcase, books, lunch cooler and lots of odds and
ends, in a deep well in the hatchback floor. When that's full and
closed up, there's room over it for a cello, a couple of saddles and
bridles, or several sacks of recycling. I've carried entire meals for
40 or all the flowers for a wedding -- each of those on two
occasions. My favorite fit is a 50-pound bale of hay, which fits in
the hatchback with lots of room to spare. The old hands at the feed
store try to talk the new ones into taking bets that the hatch won't
close. It does.

One bonus to having a small car is that you remember to unload
when you get home. When I had a Ford Explorer it was always full and
I drove everywhere with a month's worth of stuff piled up. But, to be
honest, with any car, there's always a load of stuff in the passenger
seat that has to be moved when a friend jumps in.

Twice in the five years I've had the Honda Insight there have been
times when I wanted to carry more than one passenger, and that's
impossible. Once, when we had a houseful of guests, I rented a big
luxury car. A luxury car looks good when you go somewhere expensive
-- like to the gas station where it costs $50 to fill the tank.

It is to be hoped that the tumble in gas prices and the rise of
the present administration in the polls doesn't mean a sweep for the
Rs in November. But here's the marvel of democracy: One person with
the attention span of a flash bulb and the wit of a trout gets the
same one vote as one person who has studied the issues. Give up their
SUV to save gas? Phooey. The trout rise to any flashy bait and cast
their votes regardless of whether the flies are real or fake.

Courage, friends, and keep on working.

Margot Ford McMillen farms and teaches English at a college in
Fulton, Mo. Email: margotmcm@socket.net.